Live
By Edna Mohamed, Farah Najjar and Joseph Stepansky
Published On 5 Dec 2023

This live page is now closed. Please follow along with our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war at our new live page, here.

6 Dec 2023 - 00:01
 (00:01 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

This live page is now closed. Please follow along with our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war at our new live page, here.

For more context on the conflict, watch our interview with the former French ambassador to Israel on what power the West has to stop the fighting, here.

And read more about how Israel’s offensive has intensified in southern Gaza, here.

 

5 Dec 2023 - 23:50
 (23:50 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a recap of today’s main events:

  • A senior Hamas official says there will be “no negotiations” with Israel on further captive releases until it halts its offensive on Gaza.
  • Fighting intensifies in central and southern Gaza, with dozens killed in Israeli air attacks on Deir el-Balah and Israel’s military saying it is engaging in ground operations in Khan Younis.
  • UNRWA says it expects the number of displaced people in Rafah to increase to more than a million in the coming days, with tens of thousands already sleeping in the streets and aid deliveries woefully inadequate.
  • Netanyahu again suggests Israel’s military will maintain an indefinite presence in Gaza after the war, saying it’s the only force that can ensure the enclave is “demilitarised”.
  • Lebanon says one of its soldiers was killed in an Israeli strike near its southern border, the first such death in nearly two months of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
5 Dec 2023 - 23:40
 (23:40 GMT)

Unpack the past: Mandela, the keffiyeh and South Africa’s Palestine embrace

Human rights icon Nelson Mandela had a long history of solidarity with the Palestinian people and their cause.

In 1990, Mandela donned a Palestinian keffiyeh at a summit in Algiers and in 1997, he said, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Since Israel began its war on Gaza, South Africa has been a strong voice in favour of a ceasefire and for the investigation of Israeli army operations by the International Criminal Court.

President Cyril Ramaphosa even repeated Mandela’s gesture, stepping out in front of cameras wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh.

Read our full story on Mandela and his country’s embrace of Palestine, here.

Mandela wearing a keffiyeh during a 1990 meeting in Algiers [Abdelhak Senna/AFP]
5 Dec 2023 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

US expects current phase of Israeli operation to possibly end by January: Report

US officials expect the Israeli ground invasion targeting southern Gaza “to last several weeks before Israel transitions, possibly by January, to a lower-intensity, hyper-localized strategy that narrowly targets specific Hamas militants and leaders”, CNN reported.

The US news network cited multiple administration officials in its report.

CNN also reported that the White House “is deeply concerned” about how Israel’s military operation will turn out over the next weeks as its bombardment focuses on southern Gaza, according to a senior administration official.

“The US has conveyed to Israel that as global opinion has increasingly turned against its ground campaign, which has killed thousands of civilians, the amount of time Israel has to continue the operation in its current form and still maintain meaningful international support is quickly waning,” the report said.

5 Dec 2023 - 23:20
 (23:20 GMT)

Photos: Searching for survivors after Israeli attack on central Gaza building

By Abdelhakim Abu Riash

The sky over the city of Deir al-Balah is grey with the aftermath of relentless Israeli ground attacks and aerial bombardment.

A fire breaks out in the middle of the street, littered with rubble. But that does not deter dozens of people from gathering at the site of a bombed building.

The crowd of men are attempting to rescue the survivors and retrieve the bodies of those killed in the three-storey Abu Musbih building bombed by Israel.

“We need stretchers,” shouts a man. “Someone, find us stretchers.”

See the photo gallery here.

5 Dec 2023 - 23:10
 (23:10 GMT)

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange: No unusual trading before Hamas attack

The exchange told the Reuters news agency that a report by US researchers suggesting Israeli investors may have profited from advanced knowledge of the attack is inaccurate.

Earlier, we reported on a paper published by researchers at New York University and Columbia University on Sunday, which found there was a “significant spike” in the short-selling of Israeli stocks in the days before October 7, with traders appearing to anticipate the attack.

Short-selling is a practice where securities traders seek to make a profit by betting an asset will drop in price.

“I don’t see in the data something even close to what they wrote in the paper,” Yaniv Pagot, the head of the exchange, was quoted as saying.

The Israel Securities Authority said the “matter is known to the authority” and is under investigation.

5 Dec 2023 - 22:55
 (22:55 GMT)

Canadian MP from Trudeau’s party again urges him to call for ceasefire

Liberal MP Salma Zahid urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call for a ceasefire “to protect innocent lives” in a letter.

“Prime Minister, Canadians are looking to you and they are looking to our government. They are looking for us to be a voice for peace, for human rights, for social justice,” the letter reads.

“They are looking [for] us to pick up the mantle of moral leadership. They are urging Canada to call for an immediate cease fire and an end to the violence.

“Please, Prime Minister, answer their call. Cease fire now.”

5 Dec 2023 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

WHO moves medical supplies amid Israeli attacks on southern Gaza

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the UN health agency’s supplies were moved from a Khan Younis warehouse to a smaller facility in Rafah.

“It required significant effort to make it happen in a short period of time,” Tedros said, adding that the transfer resulted in a postponement of planned medicine deliveries to Doctors Without Borders and UNRWA health facilities.

“The movement has already been delayed and will continue to challenge our deliveries to hospitals in Gaza, amid widespread armed conflict and limited staff on the ground. We need a sustained and safe flow of medical aid to provide care to people in Gaza,” he said.

Yesterday, Tedros said the WHO was ordered by Israel’s military to evacuate its warehouse at Khan Younis within 24 hours, as Israel’s expanded ground operations “will put it beyond use”. The army rejected the allegation, saying it never issued the warning.

5 Dec 2023 - 22:35
 (22:35 GMT)

More on Israel’s hours-long raid on Jenin

Reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi is bringing us more details on the Israeli raid in the north of the West Bank, which lasted about 10 hours.

Israeli forces used armoured bulldozers to “dig up and destroy infrastructure” in and around Jenin and its refugee camp, he said.

“We also know that [at least] five people were injured by live fire,” Basravi said. “Soldiers once again going from house to house, carrying out very, very violent, aggressive searches in these residential areas.”

Basravi said Israeli forces also stopped an ambulance transporting a woman who was in labour and strip-searched the paramedic driving the vehicle.

“As these raids carry on – as they go on night after night – they’ve been intensifying,” he added.

5 Dec 2023 - 22:25
 (22:25 GMT)

Al-Quds Brigades: Fighters destroy Israeli army vehicles

Abu Hamza, spokesman for the al-Quds Brigades, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, says the group has destroyed a “number of enemy vehicles”.

In a statement on Telegram, he said fighters attacked Israeli soldiers advancing from the eastern side of Khan Younis, Gaza City, and al-Qarara.

Attacks caused significant casualties to “enemy soldiers”, he said.

Israeli forces appear to be moving to partially cut across the Gaza Strip between Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah to the north. Satellite photos from Sunday showed about 150 Israeli tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles on the main road between the two cities.

5 Dec 2023 - 22:20
 (22:20 GMT)

Israeli army expresses ‘regret’ over strike that killed Lebanese soldier

The military said in an X post that the air strike on Lebanese territory was carried out “in self defence to eliminate an imminent threat that had been identified from Lebanon”.

“The threat was identified within a known launch area and observation point of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation,” it said, adding Lebanese soldiers were not the target and the incident is “under review”.

It was the first time a soldier from Lebanon’s army died since cross-border fighting began on October 7.

5 Dec 2023 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

LISTEN: War on Gaza looms over COP28

World leaders discuss climate solutions at the UN Climate Summit but Gaza stays in the spotlight.

 

5 Dec 2023 - 22:05
 (22:05 GMT)

Netanyahu says ‘half’ of Hamas commanders killed in Gaza

Netanyahu made the claim during the news conference earlier this evening, without offering a specific number.

Hamas has not confirmed the number of its commanders killed in the fighting.

“We are settling accounts with all those who kidnapped, participated, murdered, slaughtered, raped and burned the daughters of our people,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu says Israel is ‘settling accounts’ [Abir Sultan/Pool via AP]
5 Dec 2023 - 21:55
 (21:55 GMT)

Israeli military official defends ‘powerfully’ hitting civilian areas

Israeli military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has acknowledged Israeli troops’ use of heavy force against civilian structures, saying Palestinian fighters keep weapons in houses and buildings so they can open fire in civilian clothes.

“Striking them requires significant use of fire – both to target the enemy but also to, of course, protect our forces,” Halevi said. “Therefore, the forces operate powerfully.”

After days of ordering residents to flee the area, Israeli forces dropped new leaflets on Tuesday with instructions to stay inside shelters during the assault.

“In the coming hours, the [Israeli military] will begin launching an intensive attack on your area of residence to destroy the terrorist organisation Hamas,” said the leaflets, addressed to residents of six districts of Khan Younis.

“For your safety, stay in the shelters and the hospitals where you are. Don’t get out. Going out is dangerous. You have been warned.”

5 Dec 2023 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

Israeli minister says revoked visa of UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Palestine

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on X that he “decided to revoke the residence visa in Israel” of Lynn Hastings.

Cohen said the move was the result of UN “bias”. Previously, we reported that the foreign ministry said it would not renew the residency permit for Hastings, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Earlier today, Hastings warned that an even more “hellish scenario” was on the horizon for the people of Gaza as the Israeli army intensifies its ground operations in the south of the Strip.

“Anyone who did not condemn Hamas for the brutal massacre of 1,200 Israelis, for the kidnapping of the elderly and babies, for the horrific acts of abuse and rape, and for using the residents of Gaza as human shields, but condemns Israel, a democratic country that protects its citizens, cannot serve in the UN and enter Israel,” Cohen’s X post reads.

5 Dec 2023 - 21:35
 (21:35 GMT)

‘Ugly, insulting, messy’: Israeli captives’ families express anger after Netanyahu meeting

A meeting today between Israel’s war cabinet and released Israeli captives and their families at times boiled over into anger towards PM Benjamin Netanyahu, according to those in attendance.

Several attendees said they felt disrespected by the officials as families of those still held captive in Gaza pushed for more to be done to secure their release.

Dani Miran, whose son Omri was taken captive on October 7, told Israel’s Channel 13 that he walked out in the middle of the meeting.

“I won’t go into the details of what was discussed at the meeting but this entire performance was ugly, insulting, messy,” he said, while accusing the government of making a “farce” out of the issue.

“It was a very turbulent meeting, many people yelling,” Jennifer Master, whose partner Andrey is among the captives, told Israel’s Channel 12. “We are all trying to make sure our loved ones get home.”

5 Dec 2023 - 21:25
 (21:25 GMT)

Egyptian foreign minister meets US lawmakers in Washington, DC

Sameh Shoukry has held “extensive meetings” at the US Senate, his office said, sharing photos on X of the Egyptian foreign minister with Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and Chris Coons.

Shoukry discussed “bilateral relations, efforts to stop the war on Gaza, [the] delivery of humanitarian aid” and other issues.

5 Dec 2023 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

WATCH: How does Israel compare with failed states?

Israel’s been in a state of near-perpetual war for decades, receives billions of dollars a year in aid and weapons and breaks international law with its occupation and settlements.

It’s now accused of committing war crimes in its war on Gaza. So is Israel a normal state? Or has it the characteristics of a failed state?

5 Dec 2023 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

In case you’re just joining us

It’s 11pm (21:00 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. Let’s bring you up to speed with the most significant developments in the past few hours:

  • Israeli attacks on southern and central Gaza are intensifying, with reports of dozens killed in air raids in Deir el-Balah.
  • Hezbollah says it attacked Israeli forces in northern Israel and caused casualties.
  • The Israeli army confirms the deaths of two soldiers, bringing the toll to 82 since the beginning of the ground operation in Gaza, and 408 since October 7.
  • Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan says there will be “no negotiations” with Israel unless it halts its offensive in Gaza; Israeli leaders vow to press on with war.
  • Gaza’s government media office says the number of Palestinians killed since October 7 now stands at 16,248.
5 Dec 2023 - 20:55
 (20:55 GMT)

Will US ban on violent Israeli settlers actually stop attacks?

By Hoda Abdel-Hamid

Reporting from Ramallah, occupied West Bank

Settler violence in the occupied West Bank has really accelerated since October 7, especially now that many have been given weapons by the government in Israel. There are videos of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir holding ceremonies in various illegal settlements while distributing these weapons.

The move by the United States is going to be welcomed by the Palestinians – whether it’s at the leadership level or the street level – but I think what people will want to see is how it’s going to translate in facts. What is it going to mean for their daily lives? Because since October 7, the number of settler attacks on Palestinians has more than doubled, according to the UN.

Fifteen communities have also been expelled from the land they were living on and owned south of Hebron, Bedouins, basically chased away by the settlers – under the watchful eye of the army.